Miners survive to play another day

Beulah volleyball coach Kevin Peterson admits there was a period of adjustment for the first-year coach and his players.

"At the beginning of the year, the girls commented that I was a loud coach but now they find I’m just a teddy bear," he said. "A lot of that is ‘are they willing to change,’ ‘are they willing to buy into what we are doing?’ The kids are probably the only ones who really understand what we (as a coaching staff) are trying to do. They are with us everyday and we talk about every scenario."

And the District 14 coaches responded by honoring Peterson with District 14 Coach of the Year after last week’s championship match.

"It’s a nice thing to have and get the respect of coaches in District 14. I thank our girls and coaching staff, that comes right from them. They are everything and that’s why we do this," Peterson said.

The Miners have put things together, rolling through the District 14 Tournament, which ended in a 3-0 win over Glen Ullin-Hebron to earn the third seed.

Beulah looked to take the next step when the Region 7 Tournament opened Monday in Hazen. The Miners had to get past Beach, the second seed out of District 13, to survive automatic elimination.